The Meaning of Popular Sovereignty

As Explained by Monty Python

What gives government its "legitimacy,"
its right to claim obedience from citizens?

The film the
Monty Python and the Holy Grail explains the difference
between a claim based on divine right
and one that rests on popular consent or
sovereignty.
Listen to this discussion.

Here is the transcript in case you can't hear it.

Arthur: I am your King.
Peasant woman: Well I didn't vote for you.
Arthur: You don't vote for kings.
Woman: Well how'd you become king, then?
Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest
shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the
water, signifying by devine providence that I,
Arthur, was to carry Excalibur.
That is why I'm your king.
Dennis: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing
swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive
power derives from a mandate from the
masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
Arthur: Be quiet!
Dennis: You can't expect to weild supreme executive power
just because some watery tart threw a sword at you!
Arthur: Shut up!
Dennis: If I went 'round sayin' I was an emporer just
because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put
me away!.